Big TV air time buy targets end of governor's race

It came as no surprise when the two main Wisconsin candidates for governor and outside interest groups started writing checks for TV spots very early this election season.

But here's something unexpected:

An out-of-state firm is already reserving millions of dollars of TV air time for the final nine weeks of this year's general election.

Target Enterprises -- which buys media for Republican candidates and groups -- has indicated that it wants to book more than $1.9 million worth of time on TV stations in four Wisconsin media markets for an undisclosed client between Sept. 1 and Nov. 3. The money for the political commercials has not yet been paid, but Target has chosen the times the ads would run and on which stations.

Target, which is based in Sherman Oaks, Calif., is looking to spend nearly $800,000 in Milwaukee on behalf of its client during this short span and more than $600,000 in La Crosse, with lesser sums being reserved in Green Bay and Wausau, according to multiple sources. The firm is headed by Adam Stoll, who has worked on GOP campaigns and served as an adviser for two Republican National Conventions.

Who is Target's undisclosed client?

It must be some person or group already looking this far out at spending huge dollars late in the governor's race, the only contest to draw that kind of significant out-of-state interest.

One good guess would be the Right Direction Wisconsin Political Action Committee, the local arm of the Republican Governors Association.

The RGA has already spent big bucks to air three ads attacking Burke. Just this week, it was disclosed that one Milwaukee couple, Mike and Mary Sue Shannon, gave $1 million to the RGA in early March, and the group transferred the same amount to its Right Direction PAC shortly thereafter.

According to several insiders and TV officials, Target has bought time for the RGA on Wisconsin television stations in the past. Records show the RGA paid Target a little more than $2 million for media buys in February and March alone.

Joe Zepecki, spokesman for Burke's campaign, said Thursday that the RGA is reserving TV air time for "one of the most embattled governors in America." Scot Ross, executive director of the liberal group One Wisconsin Now, said it's clear this will be used for a last-minute blitz by the RGA to help Walker.

"The wealthy and corporate special interests that have bankrolled Gov. Walker seem more and more alarmed with what the polls show," Ross said Wednesday. Recent polls have shown Walker leading Burke by three to seven percentage points.

It's also possible Target is shopping for rates for multiple clients. But we really don't know for certain.

Said one veteran political strategist not involved in the governor's race: "Because this is a state race and not a federal race, the rules that govern these practices are a little less clear."